#1: INDIANAPOLIS ? Autor: liny195, Poslato: Čet Jun 27, 2019 6:29 am ----The Indianapolis Colts kept insisting Andrew Luck would play better after shoulder surgery.He did.Frank Reich acknowledged some of his best work came in a backup role.Apparently Jacoby Brissett Jersey , it still does.A healthy Luck and an opportunistic first-year coach led the Colts on a historic midseason turnaround, ending with a playoff run and a glimpse into a potentially promising future."We left our hearts on the field every game," Luck said Sunday, a day after a 31-13 elimination loss at Kansas City. "I know we all wished we played better yesterday. It's sad. We wanted this somewhat magical season to continue and we'll use that to motivate us."That could be bad news for a team that seemed to defy the odds at every turn.Most figured the Colts hit rock bottom when Josh McDaniels backed out of a deal to become the Colts' new coach while Luck continued to rehab his throwing shoulder in early February. General manager Chris Ballard wasted no time in making Reich, the offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl champion Eagles, his second choice.The odd sequence included Reich inheriting a defensive coordinator in Matt Eberflus, whom he didn't know much about and who was already plotting a conversion from a 3-4 front to a 4-3. Reich followed the advice of Ballard by keeping him in the same role and adding two more first-year coordinators to his staff.To outsiders, it looked like a complete rebuild.But the Colts never bought into the perception and delivered the kind of season nobody thought possible when they lost their fourth in a row in mid-October.That's when things changed.Luck rounded into form, the Colts developed a balanced attack, their revamped offensive line became a virtual fortress and the oft-criticized defense suddenly emerged as one of the league's stingiest units.The Colts (11-7) won nine of their last 10 regular-season games to become the third team in league history to make the postseason after starting 1-5, followed by a wild-card win at Houston."You wonder as a first-time head coach, what is this really going to be like? I just couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams how this year was," Reich said. "The guys in this building, the guys in that locker room, the coaches and players, they just exceeded any of my wildest expectations."Everyone else's, too.Luck had the best overall season of his career Reggie Wayne Color Rush Jersey , throwing for nearly 4,600 yards and 39 touchdowns while setting career highs in completions, attempts and percentage. He was sacked a league-low 18 times, one season after the Colts allowed a league-high 56 sacks.Meanwhile, Marlon Mack fought off injuries to finish with five 100-yard games 鈥?the most by a Colts running back in more than a decade.Eric Ebron finally delivered on the first-round promise the Detroit Lions saw in 2014 by catching 13 touchdowns to lead the league's tight ends and earning his first Pro Bowl selection."It was a helluva time, a helluva season," center Ryan Kelly said. "Guys were fighting for each other and it was just a good time."But Reich's favorite might have been watching the rookies develop.Quenton Nelson and Braden Smith were rock solid at left guard and right tackle, and linebacker Darius Leonard led the league in tackles with a franchise-record 163. Nelson and Leonard became the first rookie teammates to earn first-team All-Pro honors since Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers achieved the feat in 1965.Now, with Luck heading into his first healthy offseason in four years, a veteran coach and proven players, Reich knows the expectations will increase next season. He promises to be ready."We had an opportunity to learn so many lessons this year," he said. "We lost four or five and then won 10 or 11. So we've had a taste of that. I think handling success and high expectations is always more difficult, but I believe in the guys, the players, the leaders to get that done."NOTES: Kelly wouldn't rule out having surgery on his injured left knee but described the procedure as minor. … Pro Bowl tight end Jack Doyle said he spent two days in the hospital after suffering a season-ending kidney injury in late-November. Doyle told reporters he was feeling "pretty good," though he's still recovering. … Kicker Adam Vinatieri hopes to return for his 24th season after missing the shortest field goal of his career Saturday. He broke the NFL's career scoring record this season and now has 2,600 points. … Indy signed tight end Billy Brown https://www.coltsfanshop.com/Rigoberto-Sanchez-Jersey , cornerback Jalen Collins, offensive linemen Antonio Garcia and De'Ondre Wesley, receivers Krishawn Hogan and Steve Ishmael, quarterback Phillip Walker and defensive linemen DeShawn Williams and Anthony Winbush to futures contracts Sunday.100View Gallery Gallery:View from the sidelines: NFL cheerleaders 2018Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports | Raj Mehta The Indianapolis Colts knew exactly what they had to do in order to get themselves a playoff berth. Win, and move on to the Wild Card round in Houston. Lose, on the other hand, and their season is over right then and there.The Colts came out hot, dominating time of possession, and put up touchdowns on their first two drives of the game of 12, and 16 plays respectively. But, the Colts soon made their evening a lot harder than it had to be with a couple of terrible turnovers.In the end, the Colts were able to right the ship for the remainder of the game and pulled off a 33-17 victory to send themselves into the playoffs for the first time since the 2014 season. The Colts will head to Houston to take on the Texans in the Wild Card round of the playoffs next week. Here are a few takeaways from the Colts big victory on Sunday night football. Colts’ turnovers/senseless penalties cannot continue into the postseasonThis is no surprise to anyone who understands how important ball control is in the postseason. To this point, they haven’t really been an issue, but in a game that isn’t against the Tennessee Titans it very well could have meant the difference in the end result.Midway through the second quarter — just after the Colts decimated the Titans’ defense for two long scoring drives — Andrew Luck and the Colts offense were backed up against their own goal line. On the first snap, Luck held the ball forever, then pumped twice before leaping while attempting to hit Dontrelle Inman outside the numbers. Jayon Brown undercut the pass and went easily into the end zone to put the Titans on the board and cutting the Colts’ lead in half. On the Colts very next possession, after the Colts recovered a muffed punt inside of the Titans’ 10-yard line Marlon Mack Jersey , Marlon Mack had a touchdown called back, then fumbled the ball away two plays later taking at least 3 more points off of the board for the Colts.Both of these turnovers were killers. A pick-six as well as another turnover in the red zone are not plays that you would consider to be ‘winning football’ by any means. These two situations did appear to be out of the norm in this game, but they’re important for the coaching staff to address during the week nevertheless.Additionally, the Colts committed 12 penalties for 96 yards, causing two touchdowns to be called back and countless long-yardage situations throughout the night. Mark Glowinski was flagged several times, and seemed to be getting caught at the most inopportune times for the Colts’ offense.Two costly turnovers added to nearly 100 yards worth of penalties is not exactly a great combination for a team that will have to go on the road in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. These mistakes simply must be fixed.Darius Leonard takes franchise single-season tackle record, breaks Jeff Herrod’s 160-tackle season from 1991Lost in the mix of watching a win-and-in game between these divisional foes was the Colts’ rookie stud linebacker Darius Leonard breaking the franchise record for tackles in a single season. After once being seen as the ‘worst pick’ in the 2018 draft, the Colts’ rookie second-round pick has taken everyone’s expectations and exceeded them all. Even if you were one of the few on the Leonard train following his being drafted, your expectations could not have been this high for the small-school ‘Maniac.’Leonard finished his rookie regular season with 163 total tackles which led the Colts easily, but also the NFL. Leonard was snubbed in the voting for the Pro Bowl, but he has to be the leader for rookie defensive player of the year honors, and should even be in consideration for defensive player of the year as well. Chris Ballard appears to have hit the jackpot with Leonard, and just as he was overlooked by several schools heading into college, he was again by analysts and other NFL teams even after being drafted. He simply cannot be overlooked any longer, and it’ll be quite interesting to see what he can do in the playoffs.Colts put together two of their better drives of the season to start gameThe Colts hadn’t started very quickly over the past few weeks. In fact, the Colts had only amassed 14 first-quarter points — before tonight — since Week 12. Tonight, the Colts got hot right away Quenton Nelson Color Rush Jersey , and on their first two drives looked about as good as anyone could have hoped.They were also shutting down the Titans’ offense — I use that term loosely — allowing only 8 total plays through their first two drives. In their first two possessions, the Colts put together 28 plays, 192 total yards (6.8 yards per play), used up nearly 17 minutes of the clock and was piloted by Andrew Luck who went 13-of-15 for 142 passing yards and 2 touchdowns in that span of the game.I don’t know how interesting it is, but through those two drives, the Colts ran only one play that recorded negative yardage. 26 of those plays were for positive yardage and just 1 for no gain. That’s impressive offensive football, and the Colts needed that after their slow starts as of late.Now, this level of offensive play wasn’t exactly consistent throughout the game, but it was a nice explosion to remind Colts’ fans, as well as the rest of the NFL and their fans how good Andrew Luck and this offense can be when things are hitting on all cylinders.Other notesLuck finishes second in NFL with 39 touchdown passesMarlon Mack hits 100-yard rushing mark for fourth time this seasonColts allow less than 100 yards on the ground for 9th time this seasonDontrelle Inman leads Colts in receiving yardage, continues to be late-down target for LuckColts don’t get a single hit on Blaine Gabbert, but are never really threatened by his play